Thursday, June 2, 2011

Thursday's Parsha Tidbits - Parshas Nasso

The following is a brief summary of a thought said over by R' Frand on the parsha this evening. I have attempted to reproduce this vort to the best of my ability. Any perceived inconsistency is the result of my efforts to transcribe the shiur and should not be attributed to R' Frand.

Rabbi Frand noted that Parshas Nasso is the longest parsha in the Torah at 176 pesukim. He recalled being happy that Parshas Nasso was not his bar mitzva parsha because of its length. However, R' Frand explained that as he got older, he realized that Parshas Nasso was an easy parsha to prepare and lain because it is very repetitive in its discussion of the sacrifices of the nesi'im.

Rabbi Frand then asked the obvious question (in the name of the Ramban) - why does the Torah need to repeat all twelve sacrifices of the nesi'im? Why couldn't the Torah just recite the first karban and then say that all other were the same?

Rabbi Frand answered the question by making reference to a story. During the time of the Czar in Russia, boys were drafted into the Russian army to serve for a period of twenty-five years. There was an incident where the star pupil of R' Yitzchak Elchonon Spector was drafted into the army. The boy applied for an exemption from the draft, but did not get a quick response. Many of those in the yeshiva were very worried, so they began to daven for the boy.

During this period, R' Yitzchak Elchonon and anoher Rav were involved as dayanim on a very intense case in beis din. Through their efforts, the parties came to an agreement and the dayanim began to iron out the terms of the agreement. Suddenly, one of the boys from the yeshiva burst into the room and told R' Yitzchok Elchanan that the star pupil had received his exemption. R' Yitzchok heaped much praise on the boy for telling them the news about the exemption.

A few moments later, there was a knock on the door and another student entered the room. The student also told R' Yitzchok Elchanan that the star pupil had received his exemption. R' Yitzchok gave identical praise to this student for telling them the news about the exemption.

Tne story repeated itself four more times with different boys from the yeshiva coming in and disrupting the beis din to tell R' Yitzchok Elchonon about the exemption. Each time, R' Yitzchok Elchonon praised the messenger in the identical fashion and did not tell the messenger - enough, I know already.

Why did R' Yitzchok Elchonon give each of the messengers such high praise? Because it was important for each boy to know that he was important and that he had done a great thing by bringing the good news.

R' Frand cited to R' Shach who said that this was the reason that each Nasi's karban was mentioned in detail in Parshas Nasso. Although each letter in the Torah can teach many halachos, the repetition of the nesi'im was important so that each one of them could feel special about their involvement in the process.

R' Frand explained that this was the purpose behind Nasso being the longest parsha in the Torah - to show that if Hashem could go out of His way to make each person feel special, then we should do the same.

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